Need to Salvage a Client Account? 5 How-To Tips for Virtual Assistants

In my last post, Cut That Client Loose…It Happens!, I offered tips for VAs whose clients are non-communicators and slow-payors. Should the VA’s best attempts to communicate with a difficult client result in an impasse, the best (and only!) solution may be to simply release the client from the service contract.

Always plan to save the account instead of giving into frustration.

When a client shows signs of waning, I immediately draw up a plan to salvage the souring account.  All that is needed is time, patience and the wherewithal to recognize that a client entering ‘salvagable territory’ is really just another opportunity to grow your virtual assistance business.

My 5 tips to help any virtual assistant save a worthwhile client account.

1) Have a policy in place FIRST to protect yourself from non-communicators and slow-payors.

Collect a deposit from the client before work begins or expect to deliver only with a pre-paid retainer plan. I have a minimum per week plan and state in my contract that I bill that minimum time regardless if I have worked that week or not.

So if the client ‘falls off the face of the earth’, send a reminder that you have not heard from them and will be billing that minimum amount of time and making a draw from the pre-paid retainer or the deposit. Sometimes that is the jolt they need.

Understand that implementing business policies is not a form of retaliation against a disappearing client. I have found that clients have more respect for me because I have business policies in place. I do not hesitate to enforce those policies if needed.

If your client ‘disappears’ try to find out what the problem may be and offer solutions.

2) Begin by emailing the client with polite inquiries. If you do not receive a response within 48 hours, then email again that you wish to speak to them on the telephone. In some cases, they are receiving your emails but not responding (because they can do that…not respond…without consequence) however, when you make an effort to make the contact more personal, clients will respond. Have that conversation and offer solutions to whatever the problem may be.

3) Send a handwritten postcard showing empathy and set up a time and a date in that postcard to have a conversation. “Dear Client, I wanted to connect with you to see if everything is all right. I had not heard from you for a few weeks and I wanted to discuss what I can do to help you. Please call me on Tuesday afternoon between noon and 2 pm.”

4) There may be a personal problem with the client that you don’t know about – so don’t become aggravated right away. Life happens, people are hospitalized…so give a client the benefit of the doubt. I recently instituted a back-up system. If something should happen to me, I give my clients a number to call for updates. Ask your client for a back-up phone number to call if you have not heard from your client for a few weeks. In some cases, you can help the client while they are indisposed so your services become more valuable. Offer to put the account on hold until such time they can work with you.

5) If a client ceases to pay or begins to become a slow-payor, try to work with them first in a manner which does not affect the operations of your own business. In other words, I once had a client who kept missing weekly payments, so I offered to put her on a bi-monthly payment plan. At the time, this was not an issue but over time as more clients were added to my roster, I was spending more time performing non-billable accounting procedures than were necessary. Eventually that client went on a monthly retainer plan but instead of getting annoyed right away, I tried to work out a payment plan that suited her situation. She appreciated that and thus the account was salvaged.

In summary…create business policies and stick with them. Don’t go with your first instinct to become frustrated or aggravated with a non-communicator or a slow-payor. If emailing, calling and making accomodations for the client becomes more work than you can handle, then consider whether that client is your ideal client. If not, then ‘cut them loose’ and move onto marketing your business to your ideal client, which most likely includes a target that can afford your services and understands that communication is vital to working effectively with a virtual assistant.

Janine Gregor